ARGUMENTS
Norman Birnbaum and Luciana Castellina
THE ITALIAN LEFT: A Conversation in Rome
Luciana Castel/ina was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies from
Rome in the June election, for the Democratic Proletarian Party. She is an
editor ofthe daily newspaper,
11 Manifesto ,
and one ofthe founders ofthe
dissident Marxist group which bears that name.
Birnbaum:
The situation in Italy is perplexing: a massive Communist vote, a
considerable Socialist vote, at least an interesting vote for your own party
to the left of these two, and even for the Radicals. There has been a con–
siderable movement of the cultural elites to the left, and of course the
Italian working class has very militant traditions. Yet the Communist
Party, the key political force in the country, seeks a compromise with a
Christian Democratic Party itself on the defensive.
Castellina:
First, we know that a left widi a majority of only fifty-one percent
cannot generate the son of consensus needed to solve the problems of this
country. For a transformation of society we need more than fifty-one per–
cent. There are progressive democratic forces inside the Christian Demo–
cratic Party which could contribute
to
such a transformation, but they are
imprisoned within that party, unable
to
influence its policy. The main in–
terests of that party are conservative. Collaboration with the whole party is
impossible, the problem is to split it. The Christian Democrats are not a
pany like any other; they constitute a regime. They held the state for
thirty years, and quite illegitimately developed an apparatus of power.
Clientelism, the cultivation of corporate interests, is typical of the way
contradictory social forces were kept together by the Christian Demo–
crats' use of the state . In order to liberate the democratic forces within the
Christian Democrats to contribute
to
a social transformation, the Christian
Democrats have to be pushed out of the state.
Birnbaum:
That seems quite understandable. What is remarkable, according
to the voting results, is that some of the left elements amongst the
Christian Democrats (which was once a popular party and not just a
EDITOR'S NOTE: In the next issue William Phillips will comment on some of the underlying
issues touched on in this interview. Readers are also invitr d to comment.
